--- title: Election 2016: Nearly Half of American Voters Are Stressed description: Two weeks away from Election Day, nearly half of American voters are experiencing election-related stress, according to a new poll canonical: https://time.com/4544143/abc-news-poll-election-stress/ author: Katie Reilly article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-10-25T13:26:11.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-23T01:24:04.213Z article:section: Politics og:title: Nearly Half of American Voters Are Stressing About the 2016 Election og:description: Women were more likely than men to experience election-related stress og:url: https://time.com/4544143/abc-news-poll-election-stress/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc292e152d80ed038/6988ab69f887dc8184e97ede/election-2016-stress-poll.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: US-VOTE-DEBATE og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Nearly Half of American Voters Are Stressing About the 2016 Election twitter:description: Women were more likely than men to experience election-related stress twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc292e152d80ed038/6988ab69f887dc8184e97ede/election-2016-stress-poll.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Nearly Half of American Voters Are Stressing About the 2016 Election: Poll  by [Katie Reilly](https://time.com/author/katie-reilly/)  ## Katie Reilly Oct 25, 2016 1:26 PM UTC  Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump speaks as Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton (R) looks on during the final presidential debate on the campus of the University of Las Vegas in Las Vegas, Nevada on Oct. 19, 2016. Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump speaks as Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton (R) looks on during the final presidential debate on the campus of the University of Las Vegas in Las Vegas, Nevada on Oct. 19, 2016.Mark Ralston—AFP/Getty Images  by [Katie Reilly](https://time.com/author/katie-reilly/)  ## Katie Reilly Oct 25, 2016 1:26 PM UTC Two weeks away from Election Day, nearly half of American voters are [experiencing election-related stress](http://time.com/4539024/election-stress-mental-health-anxiety/), according to a [new poll](http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/stressed-election-youve-company-poll/story?id=43024209). The [ABC News poll](http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/stressed-election-youve-company-poll/story?id=43024209) found that 46% of likely voters said the 2016 election is stressful. Half of those voters said it had caused them “serious stress.” On the other hand, 53% of voters said the election was not a source of stress. Election stress was particularly high among liberal Democrats (57%) and evangelical white Protestants (56%), according to the survey, which also revealed a gender gap. While 51% of women indicated stress over the election, just 39% of men felt the same. At 59%, college-educated white women were the group most likely to say the election had caused them stress. At 38%, non-college-educated white men were the group least likely to indicate stress. The results are consistent with other measures of [campaign-related stress](http://time.com/4299527/election-mental-health/). A [recent survey](http://www.apa.org/news/press/releases/2016/10/presidential-election-stress.aspx) by the American Psychological Association found that 52% of American adults said the 2016 election is a significant source of [stress](http://time.com/4063368/stress-relief-meditation/) in their lives. The ABC News poll, conducted from Oct. 20 to Oct. 23, surveyed 1,155 likely voters and had a margin of error of plus or minus 3 percentage points. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4544143/abc-news-poll-election-stress/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4544143/abc-news-poll-election-stress/"},"headline":"Nearly Half of American Voters Are Stressing About the 2016 Election: Poll","datePublished":"2016-10-25T13:26:11.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T01:24:04.213Z","description":"Women were more likely than men to experience election-related stress","url":"https://time.com/4544143/abc-news-poll-election-stress/","keywords":["2016 Election","Hillary Clinton","2016 Election topic","Donald Trump","Mental Health/Psychology"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc292e152d80ed038/6988ab69f887dc8184e97ede/election-2016-stress-poll.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Katie Reilly","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/katie-reilly/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc292e152d80ed038/6988ab69f887dc8184e97ede/election-2016-stress-poll.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"US-VOTE-DEBATE","caption":"US-VOTE-DEBATE","creditText":"Mark Ralston—AFP/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/2016-election/","name":"2016 Election"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4544143/abc-news-poll-election-stress/","name":"Nearly Half of American Voters Are Stressing About the 2016 Election: Poll"}}]}] ```